I'm Raymond Mar. My life is filled with new successes and new experiences. I recently experience a step backwards losing who I am. I'm happy the step backwards was short. I grew up again. I found new strength, new wisdom, and the old Raymond Mar from 2009-2012. The biggest success since 2011 is I found a new job. My new life is coming soon. The curses disappeared. There is new hope and new faith. Never take anything and anyone for granted.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I started to write the Top Mistakes blogs yesterday. There are many mistakes I learned throughout my life. Here are three more.

Mistake 4: Reading Non-Fiction Books Only

I started to read books consistently on 2002. The first book was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I followed reading business, leadership, self-help, and stock investment books. Some of the books were really good and worth my time reading. However, there was something missing.

I started to read fiction books on Oct. 2008. The first book was The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. I followed that book with The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Forever by Judy Blume. I read classic books such as The Old Man And The Sea by Ernst Hemingway and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read 75% fiction and 25% non-fiction today.

The lesson I learned is read fiction books. I believe people learn more about life reading fiction than non-fiction.

Mistake 5: Complaining, Nagging, Taking It Out On Others

I remember working at Grubb & Ellis on Nov. and Dec. 1998. I complained, nagged, and criticize daily. I took out my life frustrations on other people. I was a guy you don’t want to be with on a Fri. night. I continued the unprofessional and negative attitude throughout my careers at Colliers International and Cisco. I believed my negative attitude affected my work productivity and my mental health. I believed work could have been less stressful if I relaxed and took a breath.

The lesson I learned is don’t criticize, condemn, and complain. They very rarely change the situation.

Mistake 6: An Immature Adult

I want to go straight to the lesson I learned on Oct. 4, 2008: grow up. Stop acting and behaving like a child. Don’t take life for granted. If I want a good life, I must earn it. I must be man with strength, courage, and honesty. Learn from my mistakes. Never stop innovating life.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I thought of the Top Mistakes blog on the first week of October. I wrote down a list of mistakes I corrected here and there thinking about the list in the back of my mind. Next, I choose the top ten mistakes. I changed the number of mistakes from ten to all. All of my mistakes were worthy to share. Finally, I chose to separate the Top Mistakes into separate blogs. Here is the first blog entry of my mistakes in no particular order:

Mistake 1: Living Life With Nobody

I lived life most of the time alone. I had few friends. My family has been the people I interact. I read and hear about successful people daily such as from the entertainment, sports, politics, and business worlds. One commonality is they succeeded with people. They didn’t reach their highest potential alone.

The lesson I learned is always meet new people and make new friends. Friends come and go in our lives. People come and go in our lives. Interacting and being with people influences who and what you are. We are humans. We must have people in our lives, at least for the bare minimum to live.

Mistake 2: Take Life For Granted

I took life for granted for 34 years. I lived life saying to myself, “Life treats me good. I deserve a good life because I’m me. I’m Raymond Mar. I’m good at everything and I must be treated with respect. Nothing bad ever happens in my life because I’m Raymond Mar. I’m an all-star.” That’s the wrong way to life my life.

The lesson I learned is never take life for granted. Earn it. Life doesn’t come to me in a silver platter. Live life. Learn from my mistakes and never repeat my mistakes. Don’t sit around and hope the good life comes to me. Take action to have a better life. Work smarter. Practice smarter.

Mistake 3: My Workout Schedule

My old workout was incorrect. I took my life for granted saying my workout was the best for a person who wanted to workout for good health. One mistake was I completed one set only for all my workouts.

I want to thank Punkbuster for introducing me to Bodybuilding.com. I downloaded beginning workout plans from their website on Sept. 2008. My workouts significantly improved; for example, I separate my weight lifting and cardio into separate days instead of doing both in one day. My cardio consists of treadmill and stationary bike.

The lesson I learned is workout is important in a person’s life. I must improve my workout consistently including new workout plans and eating as healthy as possible.

Monday, December 26, 2011

I ask myself 10 questions and the number of answers per question is the numbered question. It’s self-explanatory when you start reading. Here we go:

1. How many Mahjong (Riichi) games I won? One.

2. What college degrees do I have? B.S. Economics and A.A. Accounting.

3. What companies I work at after I graduated San Jose State? Grubb & Ellis, Colliers International, and Cisco.

4. Where did I visit in the United States? Nevada, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon.

5. What video games did I complete on your PC? Command & Conquer, Team Fortress 2, Crysis, StarCraft 2, and Portal.

6. What Simpsons volumes do I own? Volumes 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9. I need more Simpsons.

7. Where did I visit in San Francisco for the first time? Rode the cable car, walked around Union Square, visited Crissy Field, walked the Golden Gate Bridge, visited The Palace Of Fine Arts (since 1988), shopped at the Fillmore Shopping District, and hiked on Angel Island.

8. Who did I where a costume at anime conventions? Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicles, Toshiro Hitsugaya from Bleach, Chrono Harlaown from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Haku from Spirited Away, Ikkaku Madarame from Bleach, Allen Walker from D. Gray Man, and Medic from Team Fortress 2.

9. List the last nine books I read: Animal House by George Orwell, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne, The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, The Season by Patricia Hornung and Robin Moore, To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, and The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

10. Share ten items in My Bucket List: Weekend at Carmel, skydive, hike at Big Basin, European trip to England, San Francisco Embarcadero walk, find a job, move out, drive an Audi A6, ride the Santa Clara County Lightrail, and visit the City of Pacifica.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Today is Thanksgiving Day. I want to give thanks to some people. My shoutouts:

*My parents and family. I’m still down and living at home. Everything is okay as long as I continue to do my share in the house. I’m ready to go when the moment says so. I thank my sister for introducing me to ballroom dancing.

*Alien cat. It’s almost a year we’re dating. More adventures and experiences to seek.

*The guys. mDuo13, Tsubasa, Spiritsnare, Last Exlir, Appu, gmontem, and Chun. Anime, board games, video games, J-Pop, and talking about the little things in life. There are more out there and we experience them.

*Thundercloud. AD&D and other RPGs, stocks, books, and the Washington Canada trips.

*Alien cat’s friends. We need to have more game nights.

*Punkbuster. Bodybuilding.com and battle.net.

*Arashi. Some teens are wiser than adults.

*De Anza. Good memories and good opportunities. I made a few new friends. I also met a variety of classmates from recently graduated high school to students my age going back to school. The accounting department is solid.

*Colliers staff during my finals months. I think the years together were the best staff with all-star performance. I have complements to all the brokers treating me professionally.

*And everyone else I met with a connection and a where and when I met you in my life. There are always thanks.

Monday, November 7, 2011

*Purchased a new pair of dress shoes and a optical illusions deck of cards.

*Ate at Yogurtland for the first time. Oatmeal cookie flavor tasted good. I also ate at Smart Alec’s, a fast food restaurant serving grass fed burgers and air cooked fries.

*MahJong (Riichi). I memorized all the hands and learned how to score.

*Finished watching Kamisama Dolls anime.

*Went book shopping in Berkeley. Alien cat and I parked at the Daly City BART station and we took BART to Downtown Berkeley. It was my first time I rode inside the Trans Bay Tube and my first time on BART since 1984.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

*Ate at Thai House, Muracci’s, Checker’s Pizza & Ribs, and Sushiya restaurants for the first time.

*Watched The Most Important Lecture “Arithmetic, Population, and Energy: The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is our Inability to Understand the Exponential Function” by Albert Bartlett on YouTube.

*Passed my smog check for my car.

*Finished watching the TV series Firefly. Thank you alien cat for lending me the DVDs.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I shared random events, moments, accomplishments, mistakes, successes, and failures in my life during President Ronald Regan’s term on Sunday June 5, 2011. I continue sharing my life during President George H.W. Bush.

President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993): Still Too Conservative

“Read my lips, no new taxes.” --President George H.W. Bush

The George H.W. Bush administration had no affect on me personally. I still had Ronald Regan in me. I continued to behave like a goody two-shoes. I concentrated most of my time on school work and tests. I had a few high school moments. Regardless, I failed to spend more time being a teenager. I failed to act, behave, and think like a teenager. I failed to make mistakes—good mistakes to learn life lessons. My sophomore year was the most active for better or for worse.

*If my high school offered comeback student of the year awards, I won the award. I had a bad academic year in my sophomore year. I received four A’s and two B’s in my junior year spring semester. What a turnaround. In all honestly, I didn’t deserve the high grades because the teachers were easy going by giving big grading curves. Blackford was closing due to the recession. The district gave the students bonus three day weekends. The teachers scrambled their lesson plans to make sure the required material was taught.

*I cheated on my first essay exam in high school. I told my English I instructor I was sick yesterday and I missed the review for To Kill A Mockingbird. I asked him to take the exam another day. He accepted. I managed to get a copy of the questions. I studied the questions the night before the make up exam. I scored an A.

*My first semester at San Jose State was too easy. It gave me a false sense college was easy—easier than some of my high school classes. I remember my brother stayed up late night finishing his homework while I slept.

*I wore stonewash black and white jeans, Nike basketball white and gray high top shoes, and a short-sleeve white button down shirt with black rectangle shapes on my first day of my freshmen year.

*My first girlfriend and my first kiss took place in my freshmen year. She was in eighth grade.

*The PE teacher put me at lead off when we played softball because of my fast speed to outrun ground balls for infield hits. I had a slump I failed to reach base for days. One day, the instructor said if I didn’t get a hit, I had to run a mile the next day. I got a hit. What a relief.

*My family and I watched our first San Francisco Giants baseball game. The opponent was the Philadelphia Phillies. Will Clark hit his first career grand slam. The Phillies’ manager and starting pitcher were ejected. The “big daddy” Rich Reuschel was the winning pitcher.

*One flag football game the instructor randomly picked teams. My team and the opponent’s team were unbalanced. We were the underdogs as if we played in the NFL. The game was close most of the time because I scored all the touchdowns. The opponent double covered me and eventually we lost the game by a landslide.

*I scored an 86 the first time on my driving test.

*I played role playing games for the first time: Shadowrun in my sophomore year and Robotech in my senior year.

*The PE locker rooms offered limited 16oz sodas for $.50. One of my friends had PE before lunch hour. I told him to get me a soda for lunch because the days were hot.

*Operation Desert Storm took place when I was a junior. I heard about it watching the news. I called a friend to tell him we attacked Iraq. He said a passerby in the park told him.

My history instructor played taped NBC nightly newscasts to teach us the Iraq War.

*Entertainment time. TV shows worth mentioning: The Simpsons and Married With Children. Movies I watched on opening night: Batman and Ghostbusters II. I watched a live performance of Madonna on cable in my uncle’s house. The live audio broadcast on radio bleeped out the profanity and the live cable didn’t.

*Every two weeks I skipped a class to attend a group meeting with my fellow classmates discussing how to prevent teenage drinking with a counselor. The meeting took place for six weeks during my sophomore year. The group got along really well. There was a connection, a chemistry as if we could have been friends if we stayed together.

The group meeting ended because there was confusion. The counselor ran the meetings as if we were alcoholics. The meetings were actually AA meetings to help us stop drinking. We were not alcoholics.

*My family went to Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios. We saw the Phantom Of The Opera.

*The Loma Preta earthquake took place on October 17, 1989. I was a sophomore studying Algebra I in my room. I ran under my door frame for cover.

*I was a freshmen when Pan America Flight 103 from London to New York crashed in Lockerbie. A bomb in the forward cargo-hold blew up the front section. I never realized I experienced terrorism at such a young age.

*I parked at the San Jose State park & ride shuttle in my first semester. I parked at the seventh street parking garage Tuesday afternoons and Fridays.

*I never went to my junior and senior proms. I don’t regret missing the proms.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

I consistently find new adventures, experience new experiences, meet new people, and get out and do something, anything. I stay physically active such as going to the gym and hiking. And I keep my mind focus such as reading books.

You’re Saying To Stay Active?

Yes. Stay active and do better. Always find ways to change so you be a better person. Never stop innovating your life—innovate infinitely. Never settle for the same routine day after day after day.

No Matter How Big Or How Small.

An active life creates big and small changes, adventures, and experiences. Try new foods, visit a new store, drive a different route from point A to point B, take a vacation, listen to new music, and watch a new TV show are some examples. Find a new hobby such as painting, gardening, and cooking. Hiking is an easy new hobby.

Eating Healthy Is Important, Too.

Absolutely. I like cooking as a hobby because a person can cook healthy meals. Cooking also saves money from eating out. Healthy eating and exercising are required to lower a person’s chances of getting Alzheimer’s.

What Are Some Side Benefits?

My life has fewer stressful moments, almost no boring times since there’s always something to do, I’m open to learn something new, and I smile daily. I stay positive. Make lemonade out of lemons when I have a bad day.

What can a person do tomorrow?

Go outside and do something, anything. First, eat a healthy breakfast. Try a new cereal.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

I thought about this blog idea on my bed being lazy. I share random events, moments, accomplishments, mistakes, successes, and failures in my life divided by US Presidents. There are no restrictions—anything goes. I choose to write the blog in bullet format. I start with President Ronald Regan.

President Ronald Regan (1981-1989): Too Conservative

From the movie “Back To The Future”:Dr. Emmett Brown: Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in the United States in 1985?Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan.Dr. Emmett Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor?

Ronald Regan defined my childhood for the most part. He was a conservative Republican. I was too conservative. I was afraid to talk to people, afraid to try new foods, and had no friends. I never took risks. I lived my life playing alone except with my brother. I avoided trouble and conflicts. I was too well behaved. My parents had little involvement in my childhood life.

* Some people say my parents did a decent job raising me. They never abused me. They didn’t divorce. I was well fed, clothed, and lived in a house. On the other hand, we never talked about drugs, sex, money, the f-word, and the common sense lessons in life. If something wasn’t broken, it wasn’t fixed. All was quiet and calm in the house, and my parents never changed how they raised me.

* I went to a private school from kindergarten through third grade between 1980-1983. My first exposure in public school was in fourth grade starting. It was also the first time I heard the f-word. And it was the first time I had to sell something for school fund raising.

* My first girlfriend was in 1988. We meet at the Christmas dance. I was in eighth grade and she was in seventh grade.

* A fellow classmate gave me the nickname “rapid” when I played lunch hour football in eighth grade. I scored many touchdowns.

* I never had any friends visit my house throughout my days in elementary school and junior high. My parents failed to teach me friends are important. That explains why my parents have very little friends and nobody visits our house.

* My brother and I played GI Joe, Transformers, and MASK. Those three TV series and toys were our “triple play.” We took turns playing the good guys and the bad guys. I thank my cousin who introduced us to GI Joe that lead my brother and I to Transformers and MASK.

* The first family boardgame was Monopoly. We played it wrong. My mom was too lazy to read the rules. I was embarrassed playing Monopoly incorrectly at a neighborhood kid’s birthday party.

* I got the chicken pox in second grade in 1982. On a rainy afternoon, there was a stray dog that jumped the side fence and stayed in the backyard. My parents called animal control. An officer came by and caught the dog.

* There were many new changes in my junior high school when I started sixth grade in the 1985-1986 school year. The sixth graders had a separate line for food in the cafeteria. Sixth graders were prohibited using lockers. My sixth grade started a ban on students taking showers after PE. And it was the last year the school awarded ice cream parties to the grade that sold the most fund raising magazines.

* There were times in elementary and junior high I was picked and teased. Obviously it wasn’t my fault. Thinking back I could have prevented it by wearing better clothes, acted and behaved a normal kid, and be more sociable. I’m glad I never told my parents because they most likely give me bad advice on how to deal and solve my bad treatment.

* The first video game consoles were pong my dad made from scratch, Atari 2600, the Coleco Telstar Arcade, and the original Nintendo Entertainment System. We played pong and the Atari 2600 on a black and white television. WTH?!?

* The first movies I watched showing nudity were Smoky and the Bandit Part II, Private School, and Revenge Of The Nerds. The first published media I saw showing nudity was a Hawaiian calendar that showed topless women.

* I almost repeated fourth grade. My studying skills and basic skills were at border line failing. I had to take a special reading class in second, fifth, and sixth grades. I have been a slow reader. How did I graduate high school and college? I must have done some big improvement I never realized.

Written report cards were given to students to give to their parents. The parents received the copied version and the teachers retained the original version. I remember the distinct report card smell. My junior high report cards were printed from a computer.

* I ran a mile every Wednesday in third grade. I participated in the weekly running program at the end of my second grade and throughout my third grade. My fast running helped me win third place in my fifth grade elementary school Olympics. My elementary school had an Olympics day were each grade competed with each other in Olympics events such as running.

* One of my favorite activities I played alone was operating a cash register in a pretend store. I used a broken old calculator I put on top of a small file cabinet which was the till. I used play money I placed inside the small file cabinet. I used colored blocks for the display so the customer knew the price. And I drew the price scanner on a piece of paper and taped it on the table.

*Fanime Con ’11. Highlights were I debuted Medic from Team Fortress 2 cosplay, my first video game cosplay; cosplay; swap meet; mah jong; Valve cosplay gathering; and being with friends and making new friends.

Monday, May 2, 2011

*Walked in the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival cosplaying Syaoran.

*Checked and updated the first aid kit, flashlight batteries, and fire extinguishers.

*Shopped at the Gilroy Outlet Malls. I purchased a pair of hiking shoes for urban walking. I also shopped at the Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City and Stonestown Galleria Mall in San Francisco for the first time.

Friday, April 15, 2011

*Finished reading Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Thank you mDuo13 for the suggestion and Alien Cat for giving me her second copy.

*Went to the monthly book sale from the Friends of Palo Alto Library. I purchased Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge by Judy Blume.

*Ate turkey bacon for the first time. I think I ate it a long time I ago.

*Purchased a San Jose Sharks cap because . . .

* . . . I watched my first live hockey game at the HP Pavilion. It was the first time I entered the HP Pavilion, and first time I watched a live major sports playoff game. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime.

*Dropped my Advanced Accounting class. Time will tell whether I made the correct choice. I dropped Beginning Japanese in Spring ’09 that was the correct choice.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

*Watched Swan Lake ballet. The last time I watched Swan Lake was in March or April 1993.

*AteFrosted Mini Wheats Maple Brown Sugar flavor for the first time.

*Attended the sjDanceCo Dance A Thon fund raiser.

*Ate at Chef Chu’s for the first time.

*Went to an urgent care clinic for the first time. My month long fatigue resulted in a sinus infection; although, I think my boring classes was a factor. I took Mucenix D and a saline solution for the first time. The doctor prescribed an anti-biotic.

Friday, January 21, 2011

*Drank JAL Sky Time, a drink served in the JAL or Japanese airlines airplanes.

*Played Perplex City for the first time. I purchased Perplex City. Thank you mDuo13 for the recommendation.

*Ate Trade Joe’s frozen pizza Pizza Palermo’s, Melty Blend candy, and Cinnamon Blast Cheerios for the first time. I also ate Total cereal for the first time since I was a child. There was a $2 cereal sale I take advantage to eat different cereals.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I got this blog idea last night in bed. It’s obvious everyone is different in many ways. We have different interests, different hobbies, different beliefs, different careers, different intelligence, different emotions, different physical features, different personalities, etc. We are unique, and our individual uniqueness defines our differences.

Why are you blogging an obvious observation?

The friends I spend time with the most our strongest commonality are anime, video games, computers, board games, and anything related to the anime hobby; however, I am the lowest common denominator among them. In other words, they have a stronger interest, a stronger connection, a bigger desire in our commonality than I do. I’m fortunate we have our Friday night hangouts and they invite me to events they know I have a good time. They don’t invite me to video game tournaments because they know I’m not going to have fun since I play on a causal level.

You have more friends in addition to the guys

I have other friends. I spend less time with them. They’re either busy with other activities, busy with commitments, and/or busy with their closer friends. When we do gather, they more we know each other, the more we earn our friendships, the more we become closer, then the more we spend more time. Also, there are moments and events I meet new people and make new friends. The new friends I make we may become friends at a faster rate because the connection develops quicker.

I’m fortunate and happy that all my friends share parts of who I am. The guys and I spend time on anime, computers, and board games. I have another group I play board games. And I have another group we go dancing (although we haven’t danced in a long time).

I want to meet more people and make new friends. For example, I want to have friends share my other hobbies including hiking and cooking. I want to meet new people who have the desire to go outside and do something new such as visit a new place for the first time. I want to meet people who ice skate. My desire to ice skate happened in March 2010. The bottom line is I want to meet new people and make new friends to share my other hobbies, satisfy my other desires, and match my personality (more importantly, no jerks, bitches, and assholes). The guys have friends outside our Fri night hangouts.

There is no guarantee

I was naive years ago. I thought I get along with everyone I know and meet. If I follow Dale Carnegie’s human relation rules, I always succeed. I don’t succeed. For example, my dumb ass co-worker at Colliers International. We never got along. He was stupid and childish. He was someone I don’t want to be. There are lots of people I meet I have no connection for a good reason. The few people I meet and have the connection I look forward to developing a casual, professional, or personal relationship.

Still growing up, still learning

It’s getting better. I’m getting better. I still have lots to learn, adventures to seek, experiences to experience, and wisdom to gain. In time, I’m going to achieve being a good guy. Good guys seek and attract people. After I accomplish being a good guy ten times better than today, I continue to learn, seek adventures, find new experiences, and expand my wisdom.

Side note: The blog was initially for Innovating Common Knowledge. I changed my mind to post at Finding Raymond Mar because the more I wrote, added, and deleted, the more it became personal. I choose to keep the original title.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

There are moments in my life I realized something new. It was like I powered up in a video game or leveled up playing role playing games. It was like I earned a promotion in Raymond Mar. I became a new person. I became wiser. My soul became brighter. Life was going my way. I earned more luck and good fortunes.

Here are the key moments in my life that changed me and continues to influence me today since 2000:

*September 2002: My co-worker at Colliers introduced me to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. I became interested in reading books and learning financial education. Other moments included buying and selling on eBay and my manager was fired. The lesson I learned when my manager was fired was if you’re a nobody, you’re going to be treated as a nobody.

*September 2004: I wore a costume for the first time in an anime convention. I have worn a costume thereafter. I attend anime conventions with friends, meeting new people, and making new friends. I meet new people and make new friends even outside anime conventions.

*October 2008: I realized I must grow up. I must act and behave as a grown up. I must wise up and stop acting naive. I continue to grow up and catch up from the years I was an idiot.

*December 2010: 2010 continues from October 2008. There are new experiences, new adventures, and new knowledge in the years to come.

About Me

Get up and do something, anything is my life motto. The irony is true: live a good life, live a happy life, one must work intelligently to achieve them. Earn them. I don't take life for granted. Be active. Be open. I always seek new experiences and adventures. Boredom kills life's motivation. Meet new people. Create new circle of friends. Exercise your body. Exercise your mind. Strong bodies, strong minds. Spend wisely. Rest is important. Feel a good person. Be a good person.